Wednesday, 8 October 2014

Bordeaux 1 - French Ambiance

Our apartment on the first floor

We stepped out of the plane into a blissfully warm afternoon and rich blue skies, we had arrived in Bordeaux, a place that neither my friend Debbi nor I had visited before, so it was to be a trip of discoveries. We were there to celebrate Debbi's 50th birthday (well, the real one is in December but this was her "official" birthday, if the Queen can do it so can Debbi!) and she really liked the idea of a wine-based trip and what better place to do that than Bordeaux.

I phoned Christophe who managed the apartment we were renting and he soon arrived - a huge guy from Mauritius with a very gentle handshake and small car that I am amazed he could fit into! He drove us into the city and we had to walk to our apartment in the Rue Sainte-Catherine as it is a pedestrianised street At 1.2 kilometres long this street is said to the the longest pedestrian shopping street in Europe.

We arrived at the apartment and went along a long corridor and up a flight of old stone steps to our apartment. It was small, but very nicely decorated, clean and had all we needed. There were two French windows that led onto a small balcony that overlooked the street, a great place for people watching on the busy street below.

Cheers Debbi!

After a while we went out to do a bit of shopping, then had a shower before going out to look for somewhere to eat. We strolled up to the Place de la Comédie, a beautiful square of neo-classical buildings dominated by the Grand Theatre and the Grand Hotel de Bordeaux. We looked at the menu for the hotel restaurantLe Bordeaux, and, though it was quite expensive, decided to try it.

We sat outside part of the restaurant as it was a balmy evening and it is always lovely to eat al fresco. We ended up having the same food, which was delicious, a mushroom starter, a chicken and mushroom main (we got a bit mushroomed out!) and the dessert of pistachio mousse with raspberries looked too beautiful to eat! I'll do a separate review in full about the restaurant on the blog.

We took our time over a bottle of local wine (which we really didn't like that much, I know it's sacrilegious, but we are actually not that keen on some French wines) and just relaxed. A busker nearby was singing rather dismal songs in English and the Grand Theatre opposite was all lit up and looked beautiful, it was lovely just to chill and take in the French ambiance that we both love.